domingo, maio 03, 2009

It undoubtedly would come as a surprise to most American audiences that sexual reassignment surgeries are not only legal in Iran but also provided free of charge to anyone who seeks them. This is the focus of Iranian-born, American filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian’s documentary Be Like Others, an intimate examination of the intersection of state power, science and religion, gender and sexuality. In the film, at the vortex of these various forces are the bodies of two young men who opt for the surgery: Ali and Anoosh.

The official spokesman for President Obama ducked a question over a measure approved by the U.S. House and pending in the Senate that many opponents fear can be used to criminalize Christian thought and words.

As the New Hampshire Senate passed a bill this week to legalize same-sex marriage, we find trans people's rights were completely fucked on the same day.While the House rejected a bill in late March that would protect transgender people's rights under the state's anti-discrimination and hate crime law, the Senate is apparently in the same boat:The New Hampshire Senate today unanimously rejected a bill that would have extended anti-discrimination laws to transgendered people.House Bill 415 would have protected those with sexual identity issues in areas of housing and employment, much the way the state's laws protects others from discrimination on the basis of color, race, religion or sexual orientation.